


valid acts of defiance

by almondmark



Series: urbanct [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen, Swearing, Teenage Rebellion, graffiti artist renjun, only a little bit of swearing and the rebellion is only mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 23:52:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13985970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almondmark/pseuds/almondmark
Summary: 1. donate all of the clothes your rich parents bought you to the goodwill after they kick you out,2. vandalize government property.or: no one believes renjun when he says it's him who's been spray painting their local government buildings.





	valid acts of defiance

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this fic is based off of tumblr user @rxnjuns urbanct au! follow her if you'd like to see more of her au's, and follow me @almond-mark if you'd like to maybe see more of this au :^) if you have any suggestions or ideas about what i should write next, please feel free to message me on tumblr!

no one really knew when renjun started to hate the rich. they didn’t bother to ask either, because none of them were particularly fond of rich people, the only exception being chenle. all they knew was that renjun had become incredibly rebellious since the hatred had surfaced. and that he was suddenly getting sick every other week.

jeno’s mom liked to it blame on his less than decent living space. or a lack of home cooked meals. renjun spent a lot of time at the lee’s after jeno’s mom made him stay for dinner and forced cold medicine and vitamins down his throat. he was grateful she cared so much, but he hated that he wasn’t truthful about why he was getting sick all the time. he was usually a pretty healthy kid, but your immune system can only get you so far when you’re spray painting things like “kill the rich” and “dismantle the government” all over the front of government buildings at 2:17 AM in the middle of january. it didn’t help that he couldn’t afford a nice coat, and the thin pullover hoodies jeno lent him only kept some of the chill out.

it just so happened that jeno invited him over for breakfast one morning after he had painted a moomin flipping the bird at one of their senators.

“that punk is painting the government buildings again,” jeno’s dad said as he flipped the bacon. “not that i don’t appreciate someone showing those pigs that their congressional district despises them. i’m just wondering who it is.”

renjun frowned at his pancakes. no one knew it was him? he thought the writing was similar to when he wrote on paper, and the art style was similar as well. if neither of those gave it away, he was sure the moomin would have. 

“um, it’s me,” he said. jeno looked up at him just as he was about to shovel a forkful of pancake into his mouth. jeno’s mom looked up from the eggs she was scrambling, and jeno’s dad took his eyes off the bacon for half a second. all you could hear was the sizzling of the bacon. and then laughter.

“why are we laughing at ass o’clock in the morning?” jaemin yawned, shuffling into the kitchen. it wasn’t even early. in fact, it was almost noon.

“renjun wants us to believe it’s him who’s vandalizing government property,” by the time jeno’s mom had finally sobered up enough to say something jaemin already had a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. he choked on the orange juice he was drinking.

“jun-“ cough, “you can’t really expect us to believe that. your idea of rebellion is donating all the nice clothes your parents bought you to goodwill.”

“that was a valid act of defiance!” he stabbed his fork in jaemin’s direction and looked at mrs. lee. “right, mrs. lee? it was!” she just chuckled and shook her head. “and it is me. don’t you know what my writing looks like? and the moomin?” luckily renjun always carries the sketchbook his parents got him for his birthday last year. it was the only thing he never got rid of. “look!” he pointed to the drawing of the moomin holding up its middle finger that he based the graffiti on. 

“i’m calling hyuck,” jeno said, getting up from the table and putting his plate in the sink. renjun rolled his eyes. donghyuck definitely knew it was him doing it.

————————————————

“i’m sorry,” donghyuck said, “i thought i heard you say it’s renjun who’s doing the graffiti.”

_“that’s… exactly what i said, man, keep up.” donghyuck rolled his eyes._

“um, yeah, i heard you, dumbass. i just mean, like, i don’t believe you. him, rather. i mean, i know he thinks he’s a rebel — dying his hair, piercing his ears, but i don’t think he’d go as far as vandalizing government property. especially since it’s our taxes that go to covering it up.”

 _“well, i don’t know, he brought up his handwriting and-“_ he heard the phone drop to the floor and a faint _renjun what the fuck_ as well as _shut the hell up, jeno, i wanna talk to hyuck_ before the phone was picked back up. _“you knew it was me right? the graffiti?”_

“sorry to break it to you, but no. you’re the last person i thought would be doing it.”

 _“what the fuck.”_ renjun hung up. donghyuck took the phone away from his ear and stared at the screen. 

“rude.” and then, “i’m calling mark. he’s never gonna believe it.”

mark picked up on the third dial. _“what.”_

“are you busy?” donghyuck didn’t give him time to answer. “renjun said it’s him who’s been defacing the city.”

ten whole seconds of silence. donghyuck opened his mouth to ask if mark was still there when, _“what?”_ ah yes, he thought; the ever so eloquent mark lee. can an english major really not come up with anything better than what? _“is this a prank?”_

donghyuck swears he’s never sighed so loud in his life. or rolled his eyes so hard. “yes. it is. you caught me.” more silence. what is mark’s problem? “no it’s not a prank, you idiot! jeno called me literally two minutes ago and then renjun stole the phone and told me himself. well, essentially that’s what happened.”

 _“it’s really renjun?”_ donghyuck hung up. he wasn’t dealing with mark today. 

————————————————

“call chenle, he’ll believe me!” renjun shouts after hanging up with donghyuck. “oh. i have the phone. i’ll call him,”

 _“hi jeno!”_ chenle accepted the call before it rang once. he was expecting a call from them. hyuck texted him as soon as he hung up on mark.

“it’s renjun. if i told you i was the one graffitiing the city would you believe me?” please say yes, please say yes, please sa—

_“nope! hyuck texted me so i’m pretty sure this is just an elaborate prank.”_

“it’s not a prank! did you see the moomin?” at this point, his voice was raised and was gesticulating so wildly he almost hit mr. lee in the face. “you don’t recognize my writing? or my art style? i draw for you guys all the time! i draw moomin all the time!”

 _“well when you put it that way,”_ renjun sighed, relieved. _“i still don’t believe you. you’re too chicken,”_ what the fuck, chenle. _“also, don’t your taxes go to covering that up? so not only are you paying for spray paint, you’re also paying to have it cleaned up.”_

“don’t your parents’ taxes go toward that too?”

chenle laughed on the other side of the phone. _“are you kidding me? my parents have never paid taxes in their lives. loopholes and all that junk. ah, good old tax evasion.”_

“that’s not the point! if i told jisung, do you think he’d believe me?” jisung. his last hope. at this point he’d just have to take all of them with him one night.

_“absolutely the frick not. and don’t call him. he’s tutoring some kids until later today.”_

“whatever you traitor.” the call ended. “i’m calling him. it’ll be quick.” and so he did. and it was indeed very quick. “jisung, i’m the one graffitiing the city.”

 _“no you’re not. i’m busy. bye,”_ oh. rude.

“that’s it! i’m taking every single one of you the next time i go. maybe not your parents though, jeno. i kind of want them to think i’m a good, law abiding kid still.”


End file.
